


Harry Potter and the Pocket Monster

by BurbWatcher



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: 12 year olds going on a Pokémon journey is insane, Alternate Universe, Harry likes cute pokemon, Harry’s on a vengeance quest, Hedwig is a hoothoot, I guess Ron and Hermione are coming too, IDK why he’s like this, M/M, Magic - But it’s not the same, Nagini is an Arbok, harry is 16
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-08 00:33:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19860601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BurbWatcher/pseuds/BurbWatcher
Summary: Dear Mr. Potter,We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted as a junior researcher for Hogwarts Laboratories’ International Study Program. Please find enclosed a ticket for the Magnet Train.The train will be leaving Nimbasa Station promptly at noon, February 26th, and will be arriving at Viridian Station at approximately noon the next day. A representative of Hogwarts Laboratories will meet you at the station. They will escort you the rest of the way.Room and board for you and your Pokémon will be provided.Yours Sincerely,Minerva McGonagall,Deputy Researcher





	1. The Ginger and the Giant

“All aboard! Nimbasa to Viridian departing now!”

Harry sat in his seat and watched the bustling station through the train window, thankful that he had come early. People and their Pokémon rushed up and down the platform, getting their luggage on the train and trying to find empty seats. They seemed to mostly be Kantonese tourists heading back after their winter vacations in Nimbasa, which was much warmer this time of year than Kanto.

Harry himself had only been to Nimbasa once before when the Dursley’s hadn’t been able to find a sitter to leave him with for their own vacation. He’d been ordered to stay in the hotel room while his aunt, uncle, and cousin went to the amusement park, but that hadn’t stopped him from sneaking out and finding the famed Battle Subway. He’d watched so many incredible Pokémon battles before he snuck back to the hotel, and pretended to be watching tv when the Dursley’s got back.

Suddenly, the door to his compartment slid open and a red headed boy, about Harry’s age, leaned in.

“Anyone sitting there?” He asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry. “Everywhere else is full.”

Harry shook his head and the boy sat down heavily before shoving his patchy duffel under the seat. He glanced at Harry and then looked quickly out the window when he saw Harry looking back. Not wanting the 24 hour train ride to be awkward, Harry decided to introduce himself.

“Hello, I’m Harry Potter.”

The boy looked relieved that Harry spoke first, and easily turned to him and held out his hand.

“I’m Ron Weasley,” the boy replied, and Harry shook his hand. He was a little taken aback by the formal gesture. Maybe it was a Kanto thing. If it was, Harry would have to get used to it.

“Were you here on vacation?” Harry asked, though he was pretty sure the boy was. Now that Harry thought about it, he’s sure that he had seen the boy before. During the few days Harry had spent in Nimbasa waiting for the next train to Kanto, he’d seen a large group of red headed tourists visiting all the attractions. Harry remembered thinking they looked very happy, even though they had been bickering at the time.

“Me and my family,” Ron nodded. “There weren’t enough empty seats for us to all sit together so I volunteered to sit by myself. Honestly, I was glad to get some space.”

Harry nodded. He imagined what it would be like to have that many siblings, and could understand needed some space. Still, Harry thinks having a big family would be nice.

Ron turned to adjust the headrest on his seat, and Harry saw a glint on his belt.

“Are you a Pokémon trainer?” Harry asked in awe. He’d always wanted one of his own, but there was nothing the Dursley’s approved less of than Pokémon trainers. When Harry was seven he’d told his aunt that he wanted to be a Pokémon trainer when he grew up. The rake thin woman had gone grey at his words, before shrilly calling him a little idiot and banishing him to his cupboard for a week.

“Oh — well, yes I suppose am,” Ron said. “I’m starting my Pokémon journey when we get back to Kanto.”

Ron leaned forward conspiratorially.

“They say if you go to Professor Dumbledore’s Lab in Pallet Town, you can get a really strong starter Pokémon. You have to impress him somehow, but my brother’s were all able to do it, so I probably can too.”

“Professor Dumbledore?” Harry murmured, his hand automatically going to the pocket where he kept the letter.

“Yeah, you know about him right? He’s a world famous Pokémon researcher. He’s friends with my mum and dad, so I’ve seen him a few times,” Ron bragged. “My family has gotten all of their starters from his breeding program. My brother Charlie has a charizard that came from the charmander Prof. Dumbledore gave him.”

“Wow, a charizard,” Harry said appreciatively and Ron nodded in agreement. The two boys sat in dreamy contemplation of the, objectively,coolest Pokémon ever, when Harry had a thought.

“Wait. You already have a Pokémon. Why do you need a starter?” Harry asked.

“Oh, this?” Ron flushed as he pulled the pokeball from his belt. He seemed oddly embarrassed. “This is just Scabbers, he’s a—,” Ron winced, “Rattata.”

“Oh?” Harry said, confused. “Is that a bad thing? I don’t think I know what a rattata is exactly?”

“You don’t?” Ron was shocked by this. “They are absolutely everywhere in Kanto! More like pests than Pokémon really. I only have this one because my brother Percy gave him to me.”

“Can I see?” Harry asked excitedly. It was very rare for him to see a pokemon up close. He’d been forbidden to go near them at home. Aunt Petunia even turned her nose up at the ones the neighbors kept as pets. She would quickly drag Dudley and him away if so much as a purrloin got too close.

“Sure. Just don’t get too excited. Scabbers isn’t much to look at it,” Ron warned him before he tapped the release button on the pokeball and a red beam of light deposited a small purple Pokémon onto the floor.

“Um, is it ok?” Harry asked worriedly when the pokemon didn’t move.

“Yeah,” Ron sighed. “He’s just sleeping.” The boy gently toed the pokemon, but the rodentstayed asleep. “It’s not even that rattata aren’t good for battling. The evolved form, raticate, is actually rather decent. It’s just Scabbers who’s embarrassing. He might have died and you wouldn’t know the difference,” Ron said with disgust, though Harry did notice that Ron was very gentle when he picked his Pokémon up and settled him on his lap.

“Can I touch him?” Harry asked, feeling a little embarrassed. “My relatives never let me be around Pokémon,” He explained when Ron looked at him funny.

“Sure, you can,” Ron offered, letting Harry reach across the compartment and stroke a hand down the Pokémon’s back. The purple fur was so dense and—

“Soft,” Harry couldn’t help but murmur. “He’s really soft.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Ron flushed. “My sister gives him baths and brushes him all the time. I think she wants to be a groomer, maybe. He probably smells like flowers.”

Harry resisted the urge to lean down and sniff the sleeping Pokémon, knowing that the behavior would be too strange for the red head to handle.

“So all your brothers are Pokémon trainers too?” Harry asked, curious.

“Yeah,” said Ron, relaxing into his seat. “You could say I have a lot to live up to.”

“How so?”

“Well all of my brothers were able to make it to the Indigo Conference on their first try. My brother Charlie even got second place this year. His prize money was how we could all afford to come see my eldest brother, Bill, in Unova. He moved here to study the ruins in the desert,” Ron explained.

“That’s amazing though,” Harry smiled. “I wish I had a brother.”

“Yeah, but try having five,” Ron said, looking somewhat gloomy, “My brother Percy is now working in the league as an assistant to Champion Fudge. Fred and George mess around a lot, but even they were able to place in the top 16 at the conference. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it’s no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I’ve got Bill’s old bag, Charlie’s old Pokégear, and Percy’s old rattata.”

Ron patted Scabbers on the head for emphasis. The rattata yawned, revealing its large incisors, before stretching and falling back asleep. Sighing and flushed, Ron seemed to think he’d said too much, because he went back to staring out the window.

Looking out as well, Harry saw that the were rushing through dense forest.

Harry didn’t think there was anything shameful about not being able to afford new things. After all, he would never have been able afford the expensive ticket to Kanto if he hadn’t been sent one in the mail. It had taken most of his secret savings to just pay for the train to get to Nimbasa.

Harry thought of telling Ron all this, that he understood what it was like to have nothing that was his own, but he didn’t. They stayed quiet until a trolly lady came and Harry used the last of his money to buy him and Ron some candies and pasties. Harry had never had anything to share before, or anyone to share with. It was a warm feeling to sit with Ron and eat sweets to the rumbling of the train.

* * *

“Maybe I’ll see you around,” Said Ron as they exited the train.

It had been a very long ride and Harry felt rather sore from sitting for so long. Thankfully, he and Ron had no shortage of things to talk about when they weren’t dozing in their seats. Harry was fascinated by Pokémon and Ron with all of his brothers had so many stories to tell. It had seemed like Ron was happy to have someone hang off his every word. Harry got the feeling that Ron wasn’t used to being listened to.

“I’m going to be traveling around on my Pokémon journey, after all. I’ll probably pass through wherever you live. Where was that again?” Ron asked.

“Oh, I —,” Harry stuttered. “I don’t quite know. I’m supposed to be meeting someone who’ll take me to Pallet Town. After that I’m not sure.”

“Well we’ll definitely be able to see each other then! I’m heading to Pallet Town in a week to get my starter from Professor Dumbledore,” Ron said excitedly as they pushed their way through the crowd.

“RONALD! RONALD!”

“Crap, that’s my mum,” Ron muttered, before hastily grabbing his ticket stub from his pocket and a short pencil from his bag. Leaning against a nearby pillar, the red head quickly jotted something down on the stub. After he was done he thrust the stub out to Harry. “Here’s the number for my pokegear. Call me and we can meet up when I get to Pallet, ok?”

“RONALD WEASLEY!”

The other boy flushed before giving Harry a shy smile.

“I’ve got to go. I’ll see you later Harry!” Ron called back as disappeared into the crowd, heading the direction of his mother’s impatient calls.

Harry looked down and smiled at the sloppy number written on the creased train stub. He’d only been in Kanto for 10 minutes and he already had a friend. Things were really starting to look up.

* * *

**CRACK! BOOM!**

Harry watched in dismay as the sky opened up and dropped millions of thick rain drops that hit the ground like bullets. The thunderstorm had started almost as soon as Harry had stepped out of Viridian Station. He’d wanted to find bench outside where he could take in the city while he waited for his guide, but the deluge had sent him scurrying back inside. Shaking off his wet coat, Harry sat heavily on one of the marble benches directly across from the entrance.

Glancing up a the large, ornate clock in the center of the station, Harry could see that his guide was late by a quarter hour. Harry wasn’t quite panicked yet, that would be silly since people are usually late to most things, but he was getting nervous. He was alone in a foreign country after all. That he was actually a native born citizen didn’t calm him much. He’d lived his whole life in Unova with his relatives, practically a shut in.

Reaching into his pocket, Harry took out a creased letter that had been read many times already. The letter was on what even Harry could tell was expensive parchment. The kind of stuff you used for wedding invitations and the like. He remembered how amazed he was when he’d collected the mail for his uncle, only to find a letter to himself. Harry had never received a letter before. Who in all the regions would write to him? He could hardly believe it, but it had been written boldly on the envelope, addressed so plainly that there could be no mistake:

Mr. H. Potter

The Leaky Attic

4 Privet Drive

Lacunosa City

Unova

Harry was still baffled over how the sender had known that Harry’s bedroom was the leaky attic of the Dursley’s house. It had been since he’d gotten too big to fit in the cupboard under the stairs. The best Harry could guess, was that the sender was some kind of psychic? Uncle Vernon thought psychics were poppycock, but Harry was fairly certain his uncle was wrong in most things.

The return address had been a simple:

Hogwarts Laboratories

300 Hogwarts Lane

Pallet Town

Kanto

When his Aunt had seen the letter, she’d looked as if she might faint, clutching at her throat and making a choking noise. Uncle Vernon had tried to take the letter but Harry had refused, running out of the house with his Uncle shouting after him.

Once he’d been sure he hadn’t been followed to the city park, Harry sat on a swing and read his letter:

**Hogwarts Laboratories**

_Lead Researcher: Albus Dumbledore_

_(PKMN Champion, PKMN Genetics PHD, PKMN Technologies PHD, Supreme Mugwump, Interregional Confed. of PKMN Researchers)_

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted as a junior researcher for Hogwarts Laboratories’ International Study Program. Please find enclosed a ticket for the Magnet Train.

The train will be leaving Nimbasa Station promptly at noon, February 26th, and will be arriving at Viridian Station at approximately noon the next day. A representative of Hogwarts Laboratories will meet you at the station. They will escort you the rest of the way.

Room and board for you and your Pokémon will be provided.

Yours Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,

 _Deputy Researcher_

Harry had been shocked. He hadn’t applied to any job, and certainly not one as junior researcher in Kanto. Could he have been selected for his grades? Maybe one of his teachers submitted an application for him? Harry was no slouch in school, but he didn’t think he was ‘international study program’ material.

Looking into the envelope, Harry had found the crisp train ticket, which as far as he’d been able to tell, was real. Something else had been tucked into the envelope as well. Tipping it out, an old photo had fallen into his hand. In the center of the photo had been a couple holding a fat little baby, all of them smiling happily into the camera. To their left stood a tall bearded man, old but not feeble, his left hand kindly placed on the woman’s shoulder while his right prepared to cut a cake. Harry had squinted at the picture and thought the frosting read “It’s a Boy!”. To their right and a little behind, crowded three other men, all wearing lab coats, all smiling at the couple.

Flipping over the photo, Harry had cried when he saw the note on the back confirming his suspicion:

_August 3rd_

_Congratulations, Lily and James! And a blessed life to baby Harry. - AD_

Of course that had convinced Harry to come to Kanto, more than anything. He was starved for information about his parents. All the Dursley’s had ever told him was that they were no good drunks that got themselves killed in an accident. Harry had never believed them, not really. This would be his chance to find out the truth. If they had worked at Hogwarts, it was Hogwarts Harry must go to.

Harry would need his guide, though. Folding up his letter and tucking it back into its envelope along with the photo and Ron’s train stub, Harry put it back in his pocket for safe keeping. Glancing back up at the clock, Harry saw that it was now half past noon.

How would Harry now who his guide was? Would they know Harry? It was possible that they had already missed each other. What would Harry do then? He didn’t have a cent to his name and only the clothes on his back. The Dursley’s had soundly kicked him out when he said he was going to Kanto. They hadn’t even let him pack a bag.

Harry supposed he could try to make his way to Pallet Town on his own, but Ron had already warned him that the roads in Kanto weren’t safe to travel on foot unless you had a Pokémon. He’d have to hitchhike. Once it stopped raining, Harry would have to go find a main road and try his luck.

While Harry was distracted contemplating the likelihood of his organs ending up on the black market, the doors to the station slammed open with a crash that sent Harry jolting from his seat. In the doorway stood a giant of a man. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard. Harry could just make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.

The man’s head brushed the top of the door jam as he entered, incredible since the station doors were rather tall. People all around hurried to get out of the giants way as he stomped into the station in his great big coat and large steel toed boots. The giant scanned the crowd, as if looking for someone, before his dark eyes landed on Harry.

“An’ here’s Harry!” Exclaimed the giant as he came towards Harry. Crowding him against the bench.

Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.

“Las’ time I saw you, you was only a baby,” said the giant. “Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh’ve got yer mother’s eyes.”

Gaping, Harry said, “Who are you?”

The giant chuckled and sat next to him on the bench, nearly pushing Harry off the end of it with his bulk.

“True. I haven’t introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of the Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts.”

Hagrid held out one of his enormous hands and shook Harry’s whole arm.

“Sorry about bein’ late to pick you up,” Hagrid apologized gruffly, “Damned rain held me up. Got a whole pack of poli’s rain dancin it up on Route One. That always gets the pikachu all riled up and suddenly yeh have a big storm out of no where. Don’t you worry though, it’ll blow over soon. They can’t keep up their play fer long.”

Almost as if by magic, the torrential rain started to slow to a light drizzle and then nothing at all. The thunder went quiet and the sun was starting to make a valiant attempt to break through the clouds again.

“Wow,” Said Harry. “Pokémon are really amazing.”

“Now that’s the truth!” Hagrid exclaimed, slapping his knee and jumping to his feet so fast that Harry was sure the giant would crack the stone floor. “Let’s get a move on then! The professor is expectin’ me to have yeh there before supper and we’re already late.”

Hagrid led Harry out of the station and to the curb where a very large wagon, with two fiery rapidash hitched to it, was blocking traffic. As the pair approached, a very annoyed police officer with blue hair started yelling at Hagrid about traffic violations. Hagrid waved the woman off and hoisted Harry into the cart and then himself.

“Let’s get out o’ here before Jenny writes me a ticket,” Hagrid grumbled as he took up the reins and drove the rapidash out into the street, among automobiles and electric trams. “It’s practically illegal to be a Pokémon these days,” The man muttered under his breath has he navigated the city. Harry wondered what he meant by that. How could having a Pokémon be illegal?

“Oh, it’s not owning the Pokémon that’s frowned on,” Hagrid explained gruffly, as he sent a rude gesture to an automobile that had tried to cut them off. “It’s pokemon just being themselves that’s got them all in a tizzy. My rapidash are perfectly well behaved, would never cause trouble fer no one, but I leave them alone fer a second and people start to call the constabulary like it’s some kind of crime for Pokémon to be standing on a public street. I tell ya Harry, Kanto is going to the dogs with old Fudge at the helm.”

Hagrid ranted on the topic of Pokémon rights until the traffic finally thinned and the asphalt roads turned to hard packed dirt. Tall, steel buildings gave way to forest, and Hagrid seemed to relax. Harry noticed the rapidash also seemed to stretch and become lighter in step.

“Ah, I hate bein’ in the city,” Hagrid sighed as he leaned back on the wooden bench and let his steeds walk at their own pace.

“Sorry that you had to come get me,” Harry apologized, feeling a bit guilty.

“No, no!” Hagrid shook his head before smiling at Harry. “I volunteered to do it, I did. Wanted to be the first to greet yeh. I’m sure you’ve heard all about Hogwarts already, but I wanted to be the one to show it to yeh.”

“Oh,” Harry said, confused. “I don’t really know much at all about Hogwarts.” Hagrid gapped at him and his hands jerked so hard on the reins that the cart came to sudden halt. Harry internally panicked. Was he supposed to know? Would they send him back when they realized he didn’t know anything?

“Yeh’ve never heard of Hogwarts?” Hagrid cried. “How can that be? Didn’t you ever wonder where your parents worked? Where your mother learned it all? Where you were born?”

“I was born in a laboratory?” Harry gaped.

“Wha? No! You were born in the cottage your parents lived in on the property. How do you not know anything?” Hagrid seemed to greatly disturbed by Harry’s lack of knowledge.

“My relatives didn’t really talk about my parents,” Harry explained. Feeling more on edge as Hagrid’s face darkened. “All they ever told me was that they were drunks that got killed in a car crash.”

“DRUNKS!” Hagrid thundered, making Harry jump and the rapidash prance nervously in place. “James and Lily killed by a car crash?! It’s an outrage! A scandal! Why if I ever get my hands on those Dursley's I’ll show them! A car crash? Bah!”

“But what happened then?” Harry asked urgently. He’d known the Dursley’s were lying!

The fury faded from Hagrid’s face as quickly as it had come. He suddenly looked very anxious.

“I never expected this,” he said in a low, worried voice. “I had no idea you wouldn’t know even this much. Ah, Harry, I don’t know if I’m the right person to tell yeh — but someone’s gotta — you can’t go to Hogwarts not knowin’.”

The giant of a man, fiddled with the reins anxiously before flicking them and starting the cart rolling again.

“Well, it’s best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh — mind, I can’t tell yeh everything. Parts of it are a mystery to this day.”

Harry’s heart fluttered in his chest. He had to know. This is what he’d come her to find out, but now that he was about to get his wish, Harry also felt dread. What if he was better off not knowing? Maybe Aunt Petunia had been trying to protect him in some messed up way. Harry didn’t want to think she’d lied about her own sister’s death for cruelty’s sake, but then when have the Dursley’s ever been anything but cruel.

“It begins I suppose,” Hagrid started heavily. “With a person called — but it’s incredible you don’t know his name. Everyone in Kanto knows.”

“Who?” Harry asked.

“I don’t like sayin’ the name if I can help it. No one does except Dumbledore.”

“Why not?”

“Bloody ‘ell, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey this is difficult. See, there was this gym leader we had, who went . . . Bad. As bad as you could go. His name was . . .”

Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.

“Maybe you could write it down?” Harry suggested. The man was clearly nervous, but Harry couldn’t imagine how you could be scared to say a person’s name. It all sounded a bit ridiculous to him.

“Nah,” Hagrid denied. “Can’t spell it. All right, Voldemort.” Hagrid shuddered and the whole cart trembled. “Don’ make me say it again. Anyway, this gym leader, about twenty years ago now, went off the rails. Started trying to control who was able to own Pokémon. Wanted all that power fer himself. Dark days those were. Didn’t know who you could trust, because even though they kicked him off the League, he had lots of followers. He was takin’ over and anyone who stood up to him got killed.

“Hogwarts was one of the only safe places left, but yer parents,” Hagrid choked up here. “Yer parents were the best people I ever knew. Talented as all get out and they loved Pokémon and people equally. That’s why they had to go, yeh see? They heard that You-Know-Who was about to raid the Dragonite rookeries. If he’d had got his hands on all them dragons, we woulda been done fer. There was a big battle on Mt. Silver. By the time we arrived, they were — they were . . .”

Hagrid pulled a stain handkerchief out of one of his pockets and blew his nose like a foghorn.

“Sorry,” he cried. “But it’s that sad. I knew yer mum an’ dad, an’ nicer people yeh couldn’t find.”

“You-Know-Who killed them and all their Pokémon,” Hagrid continued. “But here’s the real myst’ry of the thing. He disappeared too. We found the bodies of some his Pokémon — James and Lily had gone down fighting — but no body for him. The league, o’course, was quick to declare him dead, but no one really knows for certain. That man — if you could call him a man — was a tricky fellow. He could still be out there. Just waiting to strike.”

Hagrid looked over and started backpedaling at the freaked out look on Harry’s face.

“But thats jus’ a rumor, Harry! No need to worry!” Hagrid assured him hastily as he got the rapidash into a faster gait. “Like I told yeh, ain’t no safer place than Hogwarts. As long as you got yer Pokémon, yeh’ll be alright.”

“I don’t have any Pokémon,” Harry replied numbly, and Hagrid’s mouth fell open.

“NO POKÉMON!”


	2. Home Sweet Home

Hagrid grumbled the whole way to Pallet Town about Harry’s lack of Pokémon. Apparently no one at Hogwarts had conceived a scenario where James and Lily’s son didn’t have at least one Pokémon.

“We’re gonna fix that, Harry,” Hagrid assured him feverishly. “Don’ yeh worry about that.”

Honestly, out of all of Harry’s worries right now, having a Pokémon was pretty low on the list. Firstly, he had just found out his parents didn’t die in car crash, but were instead murdered by a gym leader gone crazy. He’d have to process that. Secondly, his parents murderer could still be out there, preparing to murder more people. Thirdly, he was broke and homeless in a region that was foreign to him, and he knew only two people in Kanto.

Sure, he was promised room and board at Hogwarts, but what if it was all mistake? What if he got there, they took one look at him, and sent him home? He didn’t have a Pokémon, he wasn’t some kind of genius, and he definitely didn’t know much about Pokémon research.

“‘Ere we are, Pallet Town!” Hagrid declared as they got to the top of the hillside. A bucolic town stretched out in front of them. Harry had never seen anything like it in real life. Even the smallest settlement in Unova was more crowded than this. Closely built houses and cramped streets were commonplace. Pallet Town in comparison seemed to have a rule about having only one house on each hill, but even though they were well spread apart, each home was connected to the other by well traveled paths. Above the town as they were, Harry could see the town center, where the municipal building, a schoolhouse, and a few shops sat, but little else.

“See that there?” Hagrid pointed to other side of the valley, where Harry could see a large castle perched the hillside. “That there is Hogwarts, the best Pokémon research facility in all the regions. Yer in fer a treat, Harry.”

“That’s a castle,” Harry said dumbly.

“Hogwarts Laboratories used to be Hogwarts Castle,” explained Hagrid as they road down a path just barely big enough for the cart to fit. “It was a heapin’ ruin before Dumbledore bough’ it and used it fer his laboratory. Pallet Town wasn’t even ‘ere then. It was all a settlement called Hogsmeade before it all got burned down durin’ the first Great War. Hogwarts was all that survived and barely even that— sacked it was.”

They rolled through the town square, Hagrid cheerfully greeting townsfolk as they went by.

“There’s Madam Malkin’s, it’s the only clothin’ shop around ‘ere. The Hog’s Head is right next to it, yeh can get a pint there and toasty but not much else. The Leaky Cauldron is a better place to get a bite. It’s also they only place in town that yeh can rent a room. There’s a general store, but most everyone gets their shoppin’ done at the farmer’s market. That’s about it really. Real small town, Pallet is.”

Harry nodded along to Hagrid’s tour. If he did get kicked out of the program, maybe he could find a job here.

While they’d been driving through town, Harry had noticed a lot of Pokémon living closely with the town. A herd of tauros grazing on the hillside, a large bird Pokémon that Harry didn’t recognize roosted on the school house peak. The rapidash often had to snort flames at little nidoran to warn them away from the crushing wheels of the cart. They all seemed to be wild, yet completely at ease among civilization. He asked Hagrid about it.

“The whole town is part o’ the reserve, so the Pokémon are free to come an’ go. If anyone had a problem with that they wouldn’t live in Pallet,” Hagrid explained. “Yer parent’s place is just up this hill. They liked to be closer to Hogwarts than the town.”

“We’re going to see my parent’s house?” Harry asked excitedly. He leaned forward and tried to see the house the path was leading to.

“O’course we’re goin’ to yer parent’s cottage, where else would yeh stay? It’s yers after all!” Hagrid said cheerfully as the rapidash pulled them up the hillside and into a sparse wood that turned thicker as they went.

“I didn’t think about it really,” Harry defended. “I didn’t know I had home until just now.”

“Bloody travesty,” Hagrid muttered under his breath, but Harry barely heard him because as they rounded the last bend, Harry could see the cottage. And what a cottage it was! Harry wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d seen such a place in a fairy tale story. The roof was a beautiful mossy slate, and the walls were made of white cob. Vines grew around the walls, but they were not unkempt. These vines bore flowers and little fruits. And even though they were only just coming out of winter, the garden was bursting with fresh life. The door was a warm wood with a circle of colored glass set into it. It was beautiful and Harry couldn’t believe it was his.

“I’ve kept it up,” Hagrid admitted with tearful sniff. “No one asked me, but I couldn’ bare to see Lily’s hard work go to rubbish. I always hoped someday yeh’d be back to claim it.”

Hagrid lumbered of the cart and Harry jumped down as well. His legs were a bit weak from sitting again for so long so Hagrid had to steady him. All Harry wanted to do was go inside.

“Can I —,” Harry gestured toward the door.

“Oh!” Hagrid started rustling around in his pockets. “Got it here somewhere—Here it is!” Said Hagrid at last as he held out a golden key to Harry. “Now be careful not ta lose that. It’s the only one left.”

Harry nodded and took the key without looking away from the cottage.

“Well, I’ll — Er,” Hagrid waffled. “I’m gonna go up ta the lab an’ let Dumbledore know yer here. He’ll be down fer yeh in a bit. Take yer time with it, Harry.” Hagrid patted him consolingly on the back, nearly knocking Harry off his feet, before climbing back on the cart.

“Thanks Hagrid,” Harry said politely, waving as the man rode off farther up the hillside.

Standing in the woods alone, Harry took a deep breath and walked up to the front door. For a wild moment Harry stood there wondering if he should ring the bell first. Scolding himself for an idiot, Harry slid the key into the lock and opened the door.

Harry stepped inside the dim room, lit only by the light that filtered through both the trees and the windows, and felt like he was walking on sacred ground. Not unlike the cathedral in Lacunosa. Were the spirits of his parents here with him now?

With that comforting thought, Harry allowed himself to explore. Through the entry way was a great room that actually wasn’t very large, but was cozy. Far more cozy than the house on Privet Drive had been. Two wing back armchairs sat adjacent to each other in front of the stone fireplace. Harry could imagine his parents sitting there in companionable silence after a long day at work. Perhaps baby Harry had played on the thick wool rug that lay before the chairs. Between the chairs, Harry found a basket filled with toys. He pulled out a plush pikachu and held it to his chest for a moment, hoping to spark some happy memory within himself, but nothing came.

Wiping at his eyes and putting the toy back, Harry stood and looked at the framed pictures on the mantle. There was another picture of his dad with the three men from the other photo Harry had. They must have been good friends. He also found a picture of what had to be his father’s parents — his grandparents. In another photo Harry recognized a much younger Aunt Petunia standing beside what had to be his mother when she was his age. They were both wearing sundresses, and seemed happy. Lastly Harry found a picture of himself as a baby. He was sitting on the floor with a large shaggy black dog. It was some kind of Pokémon Harry couldn’t recognize. The beast was nosing Harry as he laughed when the picture was taken. This one hadn’t been framed yet, so Harry was able to flip the picture and read the note scrawled on the back, which simply said:

_Harry and Padfoot_

Placing the photo back on the mantle, Harry moved onto the kitchen, which had cabinets that were nearly bursting with stacks of pots and cauldrons. Harry thought his Mother must have been a canning enthusiast to have so many. Flicking on the stove, Harry was glad to see that it lit up easily. He’d be able to cook in here once he stocked the pantry and icebox, which was blissfully empty of any rotting food.

From the kitchen, Harry found what had to be his old nursery. A crib was lovingly placed in the corner beneath a mobile made of carved wooden Pokéballs. A mural of deerling bouncing through a flowery meadow wrapped around the walls, and the ceiling was painted with stars.

They really loved me, Harry thought. It should have been a given, but it honestly hadn’t occurred to Harry until just then.

His pride wouldn’t let him say what happened next, but Harry didn’t leave the nursery for long while, and when he did his eyes were suspiciously red.

* * *

Harry was just looking into the study when the doorbell rang. Remembering that Professor Dumbledore was supposed to come see him, Harry straightened up as much as he could before answering the door, not that he was likely to make a good impression wearing Dudley’s old clothes and his swollen red eyes.

The man standing on his stoop was no other than the old man in the photo, patting his mother on the shoulder and cutting the cake. Which of course Harry blurted out at once.

“Oh yes,” Prof. Dumbledore said fondly. “I baked the cake too. Lemon drop, your mother’s favorite. Clever of Minerva to slip that picture in with your letter. In many ways she’s smarter than me. I didn’t even suspect that you would have any reason to reject our offer. Tea?”

“Oh yes,” Harry stuttered, “Come in.” Harry moved aside to allow the man inside. The Professor wore an eccentric purple lab coat with golden stars embroidered all over it. He had half moon spectacles that sat low on his crooked nose so that he might peer over them. His beard was impressively long and white. Absurdly, Harry thought the man looked quite like a wizard.

“My dear boy, I don’t think you realize how much it warms my heart to be invited into this home once again,” The Professor said as he entered the foyer. “If you don’t mind, I’ll make the tea. I remember where Lily kept her good leaves.”

Happy to leave the man to it, Harry sat at the table to watch, noting where the teakettle and tea leaf tin were kept. The Professor had the teakettle on the fire before Harry would have been able to find a spoon. The man was clearly quite at home in his parent’s kitchen.

“Hagrid told me about your circumstances,” The Professor admitted as he sat across from Harry. “I am so terribly sorry, Harry. I wish I’d been able to tell you about your parents sooner. It was heartbreaking for us all when Petunia came to collect you. Though we all considered each other family, we had no right to keep you from your blood relatives.”

That was a lot for Harry to digest. Aunt Petunia had taken him willingly? She’d always made it sound as though Harry had been dropped off on her doorstep like a newspaper.

“What do you mean by everyone?” Harry asked.

“Well, everyone who worked at the lab with your parents. Rubeus Hagrid, who you’ve met, Minerva McGonagall, she sent you that clever letter, Remus Lupin too. He is currently away on field research but he’ll be excited to know you’re back. Neville was too young to remember you, but you did play together many times. He’s also a junior researcher. Oh, and myself of course.”

The teakettle started to shriek, so Dumbledore went back to the stove to finish preparing their tea.

“If—,” Harry hesitated, “if you all cared about me why did no one write, or call?” Harry understood not visiting. He had been in Unova, after all, but no contact at all seemed strange behavior for people who claimed to care about him.

“Ah,” Dumbledore sighed as he set their tea down. “Petunia was very adamant that you have no contact with your parent’s old life. I bowed to her request, because I too was afraid what retributions Voldemort’s followers might have exacted on you in place of your parents. It was dangerous times right after you parent’s deaths and Voldemort’s disappearance. His followers were searching for any clue to his whereabouts. There were casualties.” Dumbledore admitted the last part heavily. “I thought you would be safer in Unova. Outside of The Knights’ reach.”

“The Knights?” Harry questioned.

“It’s what Voldemort’s followers called themselves,” the Professor explained, sipping his tea.

“And they might have come after me, if I had stayed?”

“I’m sure of it,” the older man said gravely. “Neville lost his parents days after yours. The Knights thought they would have information since they were close with Lily and James.”

“Oh,” exhaled Harry. The Professor considered him over his tea cup.

“Harry,” He started. “I would not have called you back if I didn’t believe the danger had passed. Voldemort ilk hasn’t been heard from in years. You’re safe here.” The Professor reached out a wrinkled hand and laid it on Harry’s fist, which had been clenched with some emotion Harry couldn’t define.

Letting his fist loosen, Harry offered a smile to the Professor. He had a home and friends. Harry was much better off than he had been yesterday. He could do this.

“So about that Junior Researcher position?” Harry asked.

“Everything about that will be explained tomorrow,” said Dumbledore. The doorbell rang and the Professor rose with a chuckle. “Now I wager that is Hagrid with supper. I’ll leave you two to enjoy your meal.”

“You won’t stay?” Harry asked, not wanting the man to leave so soon after Harry had just reconnected with him.

“Duty calls my boy,” Dumbledore replied cheerfully. “A researcher’s work is never done. A little advice though—,” and the man leaned in conspiratorially. “Politely decline the rock cakes. Gravelers have been known to break their teeth on them.” And with a wink, the Professor swung open the door, made his excuses to Hagrid and left.

Harry didn’t have much time to protest any further as a great hulking beast tackled him to the ground and began licking his face furiously.

“Fang geroff him! FANG!” Hagrid squeezed his way into the cottage and pulled his wriggling granbull off of Harry. “Out with ya, ya great lump!” And Hagrid picked up the granbull like it was nothing and tossed the Pokémon out the front door, slamming it shut behind him.

“Sorry fer that Harry,” Hagrid said as he pulled the boy up. “Fang hasn’t seen yeh in so long. I guess he missed yeh more than I thought he would.”

**AROOO**

“Will he be okay out there?” Asked Harry after the hound’s mournful howl.

“O’course he will,” Hagrid huffed as he sat on large wooden chair that Harry realized must have been especially made for the giant. “Fang’ll settle right down in a minute. He’s spoiled is all.”

**AROOOOOOOOOOO**

“Jus’ ignore him,” said Hagrid as he placed a steaming pot on the table. “I made us some stew. Figured yeh wouldn’t have anything ta eat tonight. We’ll have ta get yeh some groceries tomorrow.”

“Thank you so much,” Harry said. The stew smelled mouth watering and made Harry realize that he hadn’t eaten anything in a day.

“Yer welcome,” said Hagrid as he ladled out a bowl for Harry. “Had some old tauros meat that had ta be used up anyway. I also made some rock cakes fer yeh. Yeh’ll love ‘em!”

Once Hagrid left — his rock cakes stowed uneaten in Harry’s pantry — Harry was so exhausted that he immediately feel asleep when he slumped on his parent’s bed. He hadn’t put any sheets on it yet, but even the bare, and slightly dusty mattress felt like heaven after the week he’d had.

* * *

**SCRTCH**

Harry blinked awake dazedly. Had he heard something?

**SCRTTCH**

There it was again, Harry thought. He did live in the woods now, maybe there was a pidove on the roof? That must be it, Harry snuffled sleepily, burying his head back into the mattress.

**SCRR SCRR—CRASH!**

Harry jolted out of bed. That had definitely come from inside the house. It sounded like Hagrid’s granbull was wrecking the study.

Sure that the hound had found someway to get into the house, Harry rubbed his face tiredly before he walked down the hall and to the study. Once there, he flicked on the light, but the giant, slobbering Pokémon wasn’t nowhere to be found.

Immediately Harry noted that the heavy, oak desk had been overturned. The drawers and their contents scattered across the floor and Harry was hard pressed not to step on anything as he entered the cramped room. Looking around, Harry noticed that a few books had been pulled off the shelves. They too lay piled on the floor, flipped open to certain entries. Dubiously, Harry lifted up one of the books to read its passage, something about alchemy?

“What the heck is alchemy?” Harry muttered before shutting the book and placing it back on the shelf.

He spent the next few hours cleaning up the study and putting everything back where it had been. Whatever had caused the mess had been long gone before Harry got there. Remembering what Ron had said about pests — Harry figured he might have a rattata in the house. It’d sat empty for 15 years after all.

Feeling curious, Harry took his time going through the study as he straightened it. The desk, which he discovered was his mother’s — all the journals on it had ‘Property of Lily Potter’ or ‘Lily Evans’ stamped on them — had many small drawers filled with oddities. There were brightly colored stones and a multitude of dried herbs in little packets. He found stoppered vials filled with mysterious substances. Harry had uncorked one curiously, but had quickly closed it again. Apparently whatever it was had expired sometime in the last 15 years.

His mother’s journals were even more interesting. Dated and filled with little drawings — Harry felt warmed to discover his mother also liked to sketch — it seemed that the journals started back when she was sixteen, just beginning her Pokémon journey.

Taking the oldest one, and the roughest — Harry could tell this leather bound notebook had been on quite the journey — Harry decided he could read it in bed until he fell back asleep. He checked the house before he went back to bed and found a window open in the loft. Hagrid must have left it open when he aired out the house. Harry was sure to shut it before going back to sleep. Hopefully no more mischievous Pokémon would bother him tonight. He had some reading to do.

Unbeknownst to Harry, a pair of red eyes watched him from the shadows.

* * *

_The Journal of Lily Evans VOL.ONE_

**_DAY ONE_ **

_I start this journal today to mark the first day on my Pokémon journey. I am sixteen and ready to take on the Indigo League. I’ve been studying for this day for so long, I’m glad it’s finally here. Although, I will miss Tuney. She refuses to come with me. I’m afraid that she’s never liked Pokémon, though she would insist that it’s the Pokémon that don’t like her. Anyway, it is almost time to go to Hogwarts Laboratories to select my starter Pokémon. I am very excited! Being chosen as a junior researcher is a huge honor, I was sure that I wasn’t going to get into the program. I should leave soon so I can get there early. I want to choose first!_

_———_

_I’m so mad! I was the first one there, but James Potter sauntered in with his gang of marauders and chose first!! Then Sirius Black, then Remus Lupin, and even PETER PETTIGREW chose before I could! I bet that awful James Potter planned this! The only Pokémon left was a Snivy! I hate snakes and that toe rag knows it! Where does he get off picking the charmander I wanted!_

_I’ve been waiting my whole life for this moment and Potter managed to ruin it. If this is what my journey is going to be like, I’m not sure if I want to go through with it. I’m just going to keep Snivy in his pokeball for now. I’m not sure I can look at him without bursting into tears._

_Stupid Potter!_

_**DAY TWO** _

_I went to Prof. Dumbledore to see if I could trade Snivy for another Pokémon. I shouldn’t have. He looked so disappointed in me I can’t bare it. I’ll try with Snivy. He deserves a chance even if he wasn’t what I wanted._

_ SUPPLY LIST FOR JOURNEY _

_-Starter Pokemon X_

_-10 pokeballs X_

_-5 potions X_

_-5 full heals X_

_-1 rope X_

_-1 sleeping bag X_

_-waterproof tarp_

_-2 changes of clothes X_

_-toiletries X_

_-pokemon food X_

_-nutrition bars X_

_-water X_

_**DAY THREE** _

_I left Pallet Town today. James Potter and his gang left yesterday, so they have a head start, but I will surpass them in no time! Taking Prof. Dumbledore’s advice, I let Snivy out of his pokeball so we could get used to each other on the journey to Viridian._

_Honestly, I feel like a jerk, but Snivy still creeps me out! I promised to try, but maybe it’d be for the best if I traded him to someone else. At least then he could have a trainer that didn’t shudder when he got too close. I know it’s unfair of me, but I can’t help it!_

_He’s not a bad Pokémon. His vine whips easily dealt with any rattata we faced today. He listened and performed each command perfectly. Snivy keeps looking to me for praise, but I just freeze up when those snakey eyes look at me. He really deserves better._

_Maybe I’m not cut out for this._

_**DAY FOUR** _

_I’m definitely not cut out for this. I stupidly forgot to pack my waterproof tarp and it’s pouring. Thankfully Snivy was able to use his vines to tie some branch’s together and make us a shelter under the tree. It was only big enough to cover me, so once he was done, Snivy voluntarily went back in his pokeball._

_I think he knows I’m afraid of him. I’ve never felt more like I couldn’t do this. I always imagined that I would be fast friends with my starter — that we would be as close as you could be —ready to take on the world. Of course, I never imagined I’d have a Snivy for a starter._

_ Goals for Tomorrow: _

_-Catch a bird Pokémon_

_-Try to touch Snivy_

_-Make it to the Viridian Pokemon Center (I’M TIRED OF SLEEPING OUTSIDE)_


	3. Snake in the Grass

Harry woke the next morning with his mother’s journal laying open on his stomach. He’d fallen asleep before he could read past the first few entries. Looking back over the pages, he smiled at the unflattering caricatures of his father that crowded the margins. It seemed his parents hadn’t been in love at first sight. Lily at least seemed to despise James.

Obviously something changed, Harry thought.

Harry didn’t know what a Snivy was, but from his mother’s description, he assumed it was some kind of serpent. He’d never been up close to a snake before, but Harry didn’t hate them on principle like a lot of people did. Aunt Petunia certainly loathed them, so she had at least one thing in common with her sister.

Rising from the bed with a stretch, Harry took the journal with him into the kitchen. It’d be nice to read a few more passages while he drank his morning tea. As the water was heating up, Harry scoured the pantry for something to eat. Hagrid’s rock cakes were even considered, but one attempt to bite into them left Harry’s teeth aching.

Finally he unearthed an old box of Wilderness Bars — ‘a nutrition packed meal for trainers on the go’. The expiration date was incredibly 10 more years into the future. Unwrapping one and taking a hesitant nibble, Harry found that they weren’t that bad. Hardly as good as a home cooked meal, but he’d had worse.

Taking his find back into the kitchen, Harry finished making his tea and started flipping through his mother’s journal while he sipped at his mug. Harry soon found that he had a hard time following the story. He knew hardly anything about Pokémon and his mother used a lot terms he didn’t understand. He certainly didn’t know what a fearow was.

**DING DONG DING**

Harry looked up from the journal and saw a person’s silhouette through the front door window. Making his way over, Harry opened the door and was faced with a tall boy that looked about his age. The boy seemed wholly distracted by the vines growing on the facade.

“Hello?” Harry greeted the strange boy leaning over the stoop to peer at the vegetation.

“Oh! Hi—,” the boy yelped as he spun around and nearly fell from the stoop. He flushed bright red when Harry automatically reached out to steady him. “I’m Neville—Neville Longbottom.”

“Good morning, I’m—“

“Harry Potter, I know,” Neville blurted out. “We used to be friends. Not that you’d remember. I don’t even remember. We were babies really.”

“Um,yeah,” Harry replied slowly. “I think Dumbledore mentioned you? Please come in?” Harry wasn’t too sure about this one, but it seemed impolite to make him stand in the doorway and talk.

“Sorry, thanks,” Neville bobbed as he slid past Harry awkwardly. Everything about this boy seemed to ooze awkwardness. It almost made Harry seem cool by comparison. “I was told I should come visit you, so here I am. Did you know you have an incredible berry garden? The custap, liechi, and babirir vines growing on the house are very rare finds in Kanto. I thought I saw an orchard around the back as well. I know I recognized a sitrus tree at least!”

“Tea?” Harry asked, waving the kettle to get the boy’s attention. Yes, Harry thought the garden was lovely too, but Neville was getting entirely too worked up about the thing—and so early in the morning too.

“Yes, please,” Neville replied, suddenly shy again — now that he wasn’t talking about berries and herbs.

Harry made him a cup and offered a Wilderness Bar.

“No thank you,” He declined politely. “I’ve never been able to stomach those. Probably why it’s best that I’m not going on a Pokémon journey. My gran says I’m not cut out for it.”

“Oh,” Said Harry, not quite sure what to say in response to that. Um. “Dumbledore mentioned that you’re a junior researcher?”

“Yes, I am,” Neville said happily. “I’ve always had a knack for plants, so Dumbledore hired me right out of school for the Botany Division. I work under Pomona Sprout. She’s the leading authority on grass types. We work on anything from herbal medicines to berry cultivation.”

“Uh — will I be working there as well?” Harry asked. He’d weeded his Aunt’s garden more times than he could count, but Harry didn’t that made him qualified to work in a Botanical Laboratory.

“No way,” Neville shook his head emphatically. “I overheard Prof. Dumbledore and Prof. McGonagall talking the other day. They’re definitely planning on sponsoring you for the Indigo Conference! You must be some kind of Pokémon training prodigy. Hogwarts hasn’t sponsored a trainer in years.” The boy looked at Harry expectantly. “You probably had crazy good test scores in your school’s battle simulations, right?”

“No,” Harry admitted. “I’ve never taken a battle simulation, or any classes to do with Pokémon really.”

Neville’s jaw dropped.

“There really must be some mistake,” Harry said nervously. If they had brought him here expecting some kind of super trainer, they were going to be severely disappointed in plain old Harry. They couldn’t kick him out could they? This was his home — he’d only just got it back!

“Th—they definitely said they were sponsoring you,” stuttered Neville. “I heard them say it. They’ve got Hagrid out in the reserve collecting prospective Pokémon for you right now!”

“What are they going to do when they find out I don’t know a thing about training Pokémon?” Harry asked shakily. “It’s not my fault that they didn’t check my transcripts!”

Neville just sat there frozen in shared horror for Harry.

“Neville!”

The boy jumped, spilling his tea on his crisp lab coat.

“I—I d—don’t kn—know,” He stuttered. “S-snape will definitely want you kicked out of the program!”

“Who’s Snape?” Harry interrogated the boy as Neville hastily tried to clean up the spilled tea.

“T-the head of the Potions Division. He’s a real j-jerk. He’s already tried to g-get m—me k-kicked out!” Neville was really starting to struggle, so with great restraint, Harry backed off.

“I’m doomed,” Harry lamented as he slumped back in his chair. He could easily get kicked out of the program. Maybe he’d be able to keep the house, but how would he afford food, or utilities without a job?

“What the hell do I do now?”

Neville didn’t have any answers.

* * *

“Damnit!” Harry cursed as he cut the pad of his finger on the textbook page. Sticking the bloody digit into his mouth, Harry glared down at _Training Techniques 101_.

As soon as Neville left — and only after Harry had made the boy swear not to tell anyone — Harry had dived into his parent’s study hoping to cram enough basics that he could fool the professors into thinking he knew what he was doing. But it was nearly hopeless! He only had until this evening before he’d be escorted up to the lab to pick a Pokémon, which Harry doubted he’d even recognize on sight. Not to mention he’d have to trick some of the most educated people in all the regions!

With a groan, Harry fell flat on his back and imagined all the stacked books tipping over and burying him. They couldn’t kick him out if he was dead, was Harry’s morose thought. He should just accept it. Harry could lay there until they came looking for him and then he’ll just tell the truth. Hagrid seemed nice, maybe the giant would let Harry work for him. Groundskeeper suited his qualifications much better than elite Pokémon trainer.

Yes, Harry thought, I’ll just lay here. Except there was something digging into his back and no matter how he squirmed, Harry couldn’t get comfortable. Huffing, he finally sat up to see what it was.

Beneath him was a floorboard that didn’t quite sit flush with the rest of the floor. Curiously, it was covered in deep scratches — as if something had desperately been clawing at this particular board. Harry tried to pull it up the rest of the way, but the board was stuck fast.

He pondered it for a moment before he had an idea and started looking around the room for something he could use to pry the board up. A quick search of his mother’s desk produced a large, silver letter opener. Harry jammed the tip into the seam and used the newfound leverage to wedge the board up.

The resulting hole was dark and a clammy, wet draft rose out of it — making Harry shiver. Half expecting some kind of creature to bite him, Harry reached inside and felt around. There was only cold, damp dirt wherever his hand touched until his fingers brushed something metal and round. It was small enough that Harry was able the lift it out of the hole easily, and once he had it in the light Harry was amazed at what he’d found.

Though it was covered in dirt, there was no mistaking it for anything other than a pokeball—even he knew what a pokeball looked like—and this one certainly had a Pokémon in it. It was too big around to be an inactive pokeball and Harry could see the dim glow of its lens even through the mud. Without thinking it through, Harry wiped the mud away and the moment his thumb touched the lens—the pokeball leapt from his hands. A scarlet beam of light arched wildly across the study before coalescing into a small green creature.

It would have been a snake if not for the leafy appendages that seemed to act as its arms and legs. It had a leafy spade at the end of its tail, and a pointed snout on its face. It was not completely green. It’s belly scales were the color cream and it had striking yellow markings around its eyes and down its back. When its eyes opened to look at him, Harry saw that they were bright red and malevolent.

The Pokémon was only two feet tall, but it looked at Harry like he was a bug and it was a king.

“Fifteen years trapped in that wretched prison, and this is who releases me? A mere boy? How laughable!” The Pokemon sneered and Harry gaped.

He had just heard a Pokémon talk! Harry quickly backed up until he hit the book shelves.

“Do not fear, boy,” The creature said imperiously. “You have served me well — even in your ignorance. You will be rewarded handsomely as soon as I—just . . .” The Pokémon waved its arms in a sweeping arc and then paused as if waiting for something to happen. When nothing did, the Pokémon did it again only to have the same result. “How can this be! That wretched witch!” It hissed, but Harry wasn’t even listening anymore.

“Y-you can talk!” He blurted out, once again attracting the thing’s attention. “How can you talk! Are you some kind of psychic type? Is this all in my head?”

“You understand me?” The Pokémon stared at him with such intensity, Harry was amazed that he didn’t spontaneously combust. “Interesting.”

“No, no—not interesting!” Harry shouted. “I don’t have time to have a mental break or whatever this is! I have to be at Hogwarts soon and this is. Not. Happening.” Harry waved his hands as if that would dispel the illusion he was under. When that didn’t work, Harry promptly turned and fled the room.

“How dare you turn your back on me!”

Something wrapped around Harry’s ankles and tripped him to the floor. The vines extending from the Pokémon’s neck began to drag Harry back into the room. Harry struggled like a worm on a hook, while the mad Pokémon laughed cruelly.

“You should be grateful to have the opportunity to serve me,” the thing spouted off with great arrogance. How such a small Pokémon could sound so bloody proud, Harry didn’t know. “Many would kill for the chance you have been given by mere happenstance!”

“Get the hell off me!” Harry shouted, grabbing onto the door jam and kicking his legs to try an disentangle them. The vines just gripped him harder and jerked him clean away from the door.

“Now don’t make me kill you,” It taunted in a falsely sweet voice as Harry was dragged freely across the floor toward it.

Desperate, Harry flung out his hand and caught the dirty pokeball — which had been forgotten on the ground as soon as it’d released its prisoner — and pointed it at the Pokémon with his finger hovering above the lens.

The threat was clear, and the Pokemon froze.

“Let’s not be hasty,” the creature said quickly, loosening the vines that had left welts on Harry’s legs.

“Give me one reason,” Harry growled. “One reason not to suck you into this pokeball and put it back in the mud.”

The creature glared at the pokeball with its malevolent red eyes while stewed silently. Clearly weighing its options.

“Well!” Harry demanded after a minute, finger flexing threateningly over the lens.

“I could be of use to you,” It said quickly.

“How so?” Harry snorted. He certainly had no use for a talking Pokémon. Honestly, Harry just wanted the rabid little thing out of his house.

“I’m a powerful Pokémon,” It said persuasively. “I could fight for you. You could be the Champion with me by your side.”

“I don’t want to be Champion,” Harry retorted.

“Then tell me what you do want,” The Pokémon insisted, flinching when Harry’s finger twitched. “Is it money? Power? Knowledge? I could give you all of that—just put that bloody thing down!”

Harry opened his mouth to deny wanting any of those things, but then he remembered that he _did_ want one of those things. Needed it desperately in fact.

“You know a lot about Pokémon do you?” Harry asked.

“I know everything there is to know about Pokémon,” it replied grandiosely. “I who have gone farther than anyone to unlock the hidden powers of Pokémon. I who have traveled into the distortion realm and returned. I who hav—,”

“Alright!” Harry interrupted, knowing that the creature was just bragging at this point. “And I’m the only one that can hear you?”

“Yes,” It hissed, looking incredibly annoyed. “Unfortunately so.”

Harry smiled an evil little smile and the Pokémon was taken aback by the sudden change in the boy’s mood.

“Perfect!”

* * *

When Hagrid came to pick Harry up, he was surprised to find The boy waiting at the road with a snivy standing primly by his side.

“Now where’d this feller come from?” Hagrid asked as they got onto the cart — Snivy settling into the back with a huff. It was dark on the road, but Hagrid’s rapidash glowed brightly in the night, easily lighting the way.

“I protest being hauled about in this disgusting cart. What am I—a tepig?” The Pokémon snarked. Harry waited breathlessly, but Hagrid didn’t react at all to the talking Pokémon in his cart.

“I found him in a pokeball that was stashed away in my mother’s study,” Harry explained. He decided not to mention that it had been hidden under the floorboards. “It must have been my mother’s Pokémon.”

“Now that yeh mention it,” Hagrid said thoughtfully, “I suppose tha’ is right. I remember now. Her starter if I’m not wrong. I always wondered what happened ta it.”

Harry had asked the snivy if had been his mother’s Pokémon, but the snake had vehemently denied belonging to anyone but himself. He’d also asked how the snivy had ended up under the floorboards of his cottage, but the wretched little thing had only snootily pointed out that it had been trapped in a pokeball at the time, so he couldn’t possibly know how he ended up under Harry’s hovel.

“Well, it’s a good thing yea found it. Pokémon shouldn’t be kept in pokeballs fer s’long. Messes with their heads,” Hagrid said, tapping a thick finger against his own temple.

That explains a lot actually, Harry thought as he rubbed the bruises hidden under his jeans. He’d tried to borrow some pants from his father’s closet, but everything had been too big on him. Finally, he’d given up and tried on a pair of his mother’s jeans and found that they fit well. A button up from his father and Harry looked half decent.

“And the more Pokémon yea start off with the better, I say.” Hagrid leaned over to Harry conspiratorially. “The professors got yeh a gaggle o’ Pokémon ta choose from, but after tha’ I got something special for yeh.” The giant winked.

“Oh—um,” Harry stumbled awkwardly. “Thanks Hagrid!”

“Don’ thank me till yeh see yer surprise,” Hagrid chuckled. “‘Ere we are—Hogwarts!”

Harry sucked in an awed breath at the sight of the castle looming over them. The windows gleamed brightly against the black granite walls and each of its many towers were topped with sharp peaks that stood tall into the dark blue sky. It was truly as if Harry had stepped into a fairy tale. 

“It’s beautiful,” breathed Harry.

“Yes it is.”

Harry looked back, surprised to see the snivy was staring hungrily up at the castle. He would have liked to ask why the Pokémon looked at the castle with such intensity, but he couldn’t with Hagrid sitting next to him. Harry would forget to ask later.

* * *

_ The Journal of Lily Evans VOL. ONE _

_**DAY FIVE** _

_I’ve succeeded in two of my goals. I successfully caught a spearow, but unfortunately it’s mother, A GIGANTIC FEAROW, didn’t take kindly to me catching one of it’s offspring. We were chased to the edge of a cliff and were forced to jump into the river to escape! This is when I touched Snivy. I had to grab onto him so as not to lose him in the rapids. Thankfully, he was able to pull us to shore with his vine whip before we drowned._

_**Touching Snivy wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. He’s not at all slimy._

_Unfortunately, the fearow flock drove us far off our route. We won’t make it to Viridian until tomorrow. One more night sleeping outside. UGH! Hopefully my wet clothes will be dry by the morning._


	4. Choose Wisely

“Now Harry, are you a boy or a girl?” Asked Professor Dumbledore pleasantly from where he was poised over a computer.

“What?” Said Harry, confused. Hagrid had led him straight through the castle and into Dumbledore’s office before leaving. Strangely enough, the man’s office was hidden behind a stone gargoyle.

“If you’d prefer neither, I’m afraid the League doesn’t offer another option,” The Professor continued. “Unfortunately, the process for registering new trainers is very rigid. We’ll have to select one or the the other to move the process along.”

The Professor glanced up at him with raised eyebrows.

“I’m a boy,” Harry finally replied. He’d never been asked that question before and it’d really thrown him. Maybe it wasn’t obvious, Harry thought.

“Good, good,” Dumbledore hummed as he typed at his keyboard. “First name: Harry, last name: Potter—You do go by Potter, yes? Not Dursley?”

“No, not Dursley,” Harry was quick to reply. At his feet, Snivy seemed incredibly bored with the process and had started wandering about the rounded office. It’s garnet eyes peering at the Professor’s book collection.

“Well I have all of your other information already filled out — Date of Birth, Citizen Code, and what not,” said Dumbledore. “We’ll need to register your Snivy as well. Do you have his pokeball?”

“Here.” Harry handed the pokeball over to the old man. He’d cleaned the rest of the dirt off of it, so it gleamed in the office’s dim light. The Professor examined the pokeball curiously for a moment before popping it into a device that was attached to his computer by a short cord.

“Hmmm,” Dumbledore hummed again, glancing sadly at the green Pokémon that was steadfastly ignoring them. “It seems this Snivy is your mother’s old starter. Their ID numbers match. It’s a sad thing when a trainer doesn’t get along with their Pokémon. I hope you will take better care of him Harry.”

“I’ll try,” Harry promised, looking over at the grass type. It really was sad that Harry’s mother couldn’t get over her fear of Snivy. He wondered what her breaking point was? What had happened to make her hide her own starter under the floorboards? Harry would have to read more of her journal to find out. It seemed cruel to him, and the Pokémon had obviously become a bit unhinged by his long dormancy. Snivy didn’t even think he’d ever had a trainer.

“You may give him an official nickname if you’d like,” Dumbledore prompted.

“Um,” Harry hedged. He hadn’t even thought of giving the rude little grass type a name.

“Salazar.”

He looked over to find the snivy glaring at him, which Harry was finding to be the Pokémon’s default expression.

“Um, his name is Salazar,” Harry told Dumbledore who seemed delighted by the name.

“A perfect name for a snivy,” He praised. “You know more about the history of Kanto than I’d thought.”

“Yeah,” Harry laughed nervously. Who or what the hell was Salazar?

“Well,” Dumbledore stood. “Your trainer info is all set. Here’s your Pokédex. Marvelous little devices they’ve turned out to be — like having a super computer in your back pocket! It’ll serve as your trainer ID and we’ll be able to keep in contact through its messaging and video call system. While your main objective is to represent Hogwarts at the Indigo Conference, we may have some fieldwork for you to do along the way. Nothing that should take too much time away from your training.”

Harry took the red and black device and looked at it. This model was certainly sleeker than any he’d had the opportunity to see before. The lens suddenly flashed brightly, blinding Harry momentarily, while making a cheeky dinging sound. Harry nearly dropped it.

“That will be it taking your trainer ID photo,” Dumbledore chuckled. “No need for concern.”

But as the screen lit up and he saw the candid picture it had taken, Harry felt very concerned!

“I wasn’t ready! It has to retake it,” Harry fiddled with the buttons, trying to find a way to erase the image of his half closed eyes and scrunched up face.

“I’m afraid you can only update it once every three years,” The Professor said cheerfully. “Now the others have been waiting anxiously in the Great Hall for quite some time. We’d best be off to meet them.”

Harry had to hold back a groan. He’d be stuck with this ugly picture for three years? Hopefully it was like a drivers license and he’d barely ever have to show it to anyone.

“Who are we meeting?” Harry asked as they filed out of Dumbledore’s strange office.

“Oh just a few people who work at Hogwarts, maybe some towns people. It’s not every day Hogwarts sponsors a trainer for the Indigo League.”

* * *

Dumbledore lied. The great hall was packed with people, and Harry nearly fled at the sight of them. There was a literal feast happening.

“Hmmm,” Dumbledore hummed unconvincingly as Harry was lead onto the stage. “This is a bigger turnout than I was expecting.”

Once they were on the stage, people noticed them and started to cheer uproariously. Harry must have looked ready to faint, because Salazar pinched his leg.

“Stop gaping,” He snapped. “You look like fool.”

Nodding, Harry took a deep breath and pasted on a fake smile that made his face hurt. He just had to get this over with and he could retreat back to his quiet home. To distract himself, Harry looked around the hall and tried to admire the architecture and ignore the hundreds of eyes on him. The ceiling was the best part. Soaring and cavernous, the great hall’s ceiling was painted to mimic the night sky. It must have taken the artist years, Harry thought.

“—And now our sponsored trainer will choose a Pokémon produced in Hogwart’s world renown breeding program. Each of our lead researchers will present Mr. Potter with his choices. Filius, if you would start us off?”

At Dumbledore’s words, a very short man with combed-back hair and a bubbly energy about him, came forward and presented a pokeball to both Harry and their audience. Tapping the lens, Professor Flitwick released the Pokémon contained inside.

“In honor of Rowena Ravenclaw, I present a Pokémon that exemplifies her most treasured quality — wisdom,” Filius announced.

The Pokémon that appeared was strangely insect like with its hard and segmented carapace, but was mammalian in shape. Yellow and brown, it floated just inches above the stage in a show of psychic power.

“Abra, the psi pokemon,” Salazar informed him. No one else could hear the Pokémon coaching him. “It’s a psychic type and has three stages. It can become a powerful fighter through evolution. Currently its greatest talent will be teleportation.”

Harry nodded thoughtfully. Bringing Salazar was a stroke of genius on his part. He never would have recognized this Pokémon. They weren’t native to Unova as far as Harry could guess.

After the crowd and Harry had the appropriate amount of time to gawk at the little fox-like creature, Another professor stepped forward. This one was a large woman with a kind face and graying curls.

“In honor of Helga Hufflepuff, who valued loyalty most all, I present a Pokémon that will never falter.”

From the red beam of light, a puppy bounded onto the stage and promptly tripped over its own paws. It sat back up and panted happily as it looked around the room.

“Lillipup,” Salazar said without prompting from Harry. “Another three stage Pokémon, but this one is only a normal type. It’ll be stupidly loyal to its trainer, but it’s final evolution is a Pokémon with potential.” The snivy seemed less impressed with this Pokémon than the last. Harry thought it was rather cute. He wasn’t a big fan of dogs, though. He’d been chased up a tree too many times by Aunt Marge’s nasty little snubble, Ripper.

The next professor to come forward was a tall man with dark greasy hair and an unfortunate nose. He sneered at Harry before saying his part.

“In honor of Salazar Slytherin, the most cunning of the Hogwart’s Four, I present a Pokémon with the two greatest types. Deino!”

The man smirked as he released his chosen Pokémon onto the stage to the audible gasps of the crowd. Even Harry could recognize a dragon type when he saw it. Standing before him was a squat creature with blue skin and dark fur covering its eyes. It’s long neck craned about as it snapped its jaws in the air.

“Choose that one,” Salazar ordered.

“What?” Harry muttered as discreetly as he could in a hall full of people. Thankfully everyone’s attention seemed to be on the little dragon, much to Professor Snape’s (Harry assumed from Neville’s description of the man) smug delight. Harry was starting to think choosing the best Pokémon was a competition among the professors, and Snape had just assumedly won. The others certainly looked upset with him.

“It’s a duel dark/dragon typing. Three stages and one of the most powerful Pokémon you could train. You would have to be a complete fool to not choose it.” Salazar hissed at him urgently. Harry certainly didn’t want to seem like a fool. He’d brought the snivy just so he wouldn’t. He’d have to choose the dragon, which he should honestly be ecstatic about. Every little boy dreams of having his own dragon to battle with, but as he watched the Pokémon cruelly snap it’s teeth at the lillipup next to it, Harry was torn.

“Your turn Minerva,” Snape said gloatingly to the last professor, who was an older woman with a strict face and perfect posture. With a combative glare aimed at Snape, she came forward and presented her pokeball.

“In honor of Godric Gryffindor, who valued a brave heart, I present Charmander. A Pokémon whose flames only grow hotter under adversity!”

The crowd cheered as Prof. McGonagall released her Pokémon. A charmander! Even Harry knew that charmanders became charizards, aka the best Pokémon ever!

Harry leaned forward excitedly, but when the scarlet light solidified, it was not a charmander that stood on stage but a . . . furry egg?

The furry egg suddenly sprouted four little orange paws and did a wobbly dance for it’s audience. Harry could now see that it had an orange face and big yellow eyebrows, which sat above its comically large eyes. It looked at Harry and smiled, waving a little orange paw at him.

Loud and jumbled noises of confusion came from the crowd and Harry glanced up to see McGonagall sporting a humiliated blush.

“It seems there was a bit of a mix up,” Dumbledore said cheerfully. “Just a moment, and we’ll un-swap charmander and darumaka. Darumaka are such delightfully mischievous little things.”

“Impudent,” Salazar sneered. He was clearly unimpressed with the happy little Pokémon and not in a hurry to tell Harry anything about it.

Looking at the dragon, who was yet again making a bid to eat it’s neighbor, Harry looked back at the darumaka happily rolling around on the stage, spitting cheeky little flames at anyone who tried to catch it.

“Absolutely not.”

Harry glanced down at the snivy that was now glaring up at him.

“Don’t even think about it,” Salazar hissed. “We need that dragon.”

“I know,” Harry hissed back, but as the darumaka rolled by, Harry took the opportunity to scoop it up. It was surprisingly heavy for its size, but Harry managed.

“Daru?” It cooed up at him and tucked it’s orange paws back into its belly fluff, becoming a perfect egg shape again.

“Don’t you dare!” Salazar all but shouted at Harry. Harry didn’t know why. He’d already agreed to choose the deino. Was his face doing a thing? He was smiling wasn’t he? He couldn’t help it, though. Darumaka was so cute, Harry could die.

“Hold it still, Potter,” McGonagall ordered as she pointed the pokeball at the Pokémon nestled trustingly his arms. Without thinking, Harry jumped back a step and dodged the pokeball’s return beam.

“Wait! I want this one,” Harry said, before his brain could catch up with his mouth. “I choose Darumaka!”

Salazar groaned loudly.

“A-are you sure, Potter?” McGonagall asked him disbelievingly. “You wouldn’t rather have a charmander?”

“No,” Harry looked happily down at the Pokémon radiating heat into his chest and arms. “This is the one.”

“You picked a dunderhead,” Snape growled at Dumbledore. “Even the boy’s wretched father had more sense!” Harry was taken aback by the man’s vitriol. Neville wasn’t kidding when described the Potions professor as ‘literal poison’.

“On the contrary, Severus,” Dumbledore placed an approving hand on Harry shoulder. “I think Harry made an excellent choice, and he did so with his heart. The strongest bonds between trainers and Pokémon are formed out of love.”

Salazar and Snape made nearly identical noises of disgust, not that anyone but Harry would know. Snape returned his rejected deino and stormed out of the hall, his black lab coat billowing dramatically behind him. The other professors returned their own offered Pokémon, but stayed to congratulate Harry on his new partner. The crowd of researchers and townsfolk also seemed oddly charmed by Harry’s choice, though as the feast progressed through the night he was called a fool by more than one person.

Part of Harry — the calculating survivor that the Dursley’s neglect had created — agreed with them. He was certainly a fool to reject not one, but two dragons. Salazar certainly was disgusted with him and spent the rest of the night either ignoring Harry or insulting his trainer’s intelligence under his breath.

“Cute?” The snake snorted derisively. “Only insipid little girls — whose greatest goal in life is to be a useless coordinator — choose their Pokémon for such ridiculous traits. Utterly good for nothing!”

Don’t be mean,” Harry scolded the Pokémon sitting beside him at the high table, eating from a bowl of berries. “Darumaka isn’t a good-for-nothing. He’s going to be amazing. You’ll see.” Harry smiled warmly down at the Pokémon sitting on his lap and eating greedily off his plate.

“It,” Salazar sneered at the boorish creature, “wasn’t what I was calling useless.” The Snivy looked pointedly at Harry, but the boy was too distracted by the red hairball to notice.

“Hmm? Did you say something?” Harry asked absently as he plucked a berry from Salazar’s bowl to feed Darumaka.

If snivy had been a fire type, Harry surely would have burst into flames at the force of his glare. He did feel a little tingly though.

* * *

Later that night, Harry fiddled with his Pokédex in bed, his Pokémon partners already asleep. Hagrid brought him back to the cottage around midnight as the party wound down. He left him at the door with a promise to bring Harry his surprise tomorrow. Hagrid at least seemed to approve of his choice, repeating what Dumbledore had said about choosing a Pokémon because he liked it and not because he thought it was powerful.

At the same time, Hagrid did seem chagrined that Harry hadn’t chosen a dragon. Apparently, it was the giant’s dream to have his own dragon.

Opening up the messaging program, Harry saw that he already had a few contacts added, including: Prof. Dumbledore, Prof. McGonagall, and Neville. Realizing he could add one more person, Harry dug Ron’s ticket stub out of his pocket and typed in the contact. Once it was in, Harry nervously typed out a message to send to Ron.

**Hey Ron. It’s Harry.**

Then thinking Ron might not remember his name, he quickly typed:

**From the magnet train. You gave me your number.**

Feeling stupid, Harry waited anxiously to see if the other boy would write back. After a minute some dots appeared, indicated that a message was being typed out.

**Hey Harry! I thot u lost my number 😆**

**Sorry! I didn’t get a Pokédex until a few hours ago.**

**WHOA!!! U have a dex! That’s awesome 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻**

**I only have an old pokegear, it sux 🤮**

**I only got it bc of my job. It’s pretty cool though.**

**You have a JOB that needs a dex? What r u some kinda researcher?? 😂**

**Junior Researcher for Hogwarts Laboratories is the full title I think?**

**WHAAAAAAT**

**U work at HOGWARTS??**

**Not even know-it-all Granger got that job**

**U must b a genius**

**I’m not.**

**I think this was all a mistake.**

**Lucky mistake! What u think they got your application mixed up??**

**No, I didn’t even apply.**

**My parents used to be big researchers here**

**I guess everyone thought I’d be as talented as them.**

**Shit**

**And u didn’t grow up with Pokémon right**

**Nope.**

**Bloody hell. Think you’re going to get sacked?**

**They’re going figure it out eventually**

**I can’t lose this job.**

**I’m actually not going to work in the lab.**

**I’m what they call a sponsored trainer.**

**HOLY SHIT MAN**

**That’s even worse! They’re expecting you to win**

**the FREAKING CONFERENCE!!!!! 😱😱😱**

**HOW THE HELL**

**You didn’t even know what a rattata was!!!!!!!!!**

**I’ve got a plan.**

**????**

**I can’t tell you. You’ll think I’m crazy.**

**Mate, I already think ur bonkers**

**So I guess I’ll be seeing u soon**

**I’m heading to Pallet tmm.**

**Should get there by the end of the week.**

**Ok.**

**I’ll definitely see you then.**

**You can stay at my house if you need a place.**

**Thanks!**

**I’m going to bed now, good night**

**Good night!**

Harry closed the messaging system. It was nice to have a friend to talk to. He glanced over at the snivy that was sleeping on the other side of the bed, as far from Harry as he could possibly be without sleeping on the floor. Salazar wasn’t exactly a friend yet, but Harry was hopeful.

Taking his Pokédex, Harry aimed it at the snake and clicked scan. The screen instantly began to fill with information.

**_ Snivy the Grass Snake Pokémon _ **

****

**_Snivy are incredibly intelligent and calm Pokémon. They photosynthesize by placing their tail in direct sunlight. When they are in sunlight their movements become quicker._ **

Well, Salazar is definitely intelligent, Harry thought, but he certainly wasn’t very calm! The snake was just varying degrees of angry the entire night. Not that Harry blamed him too much. The Pokémon had been trapped in a pokeball for a very long time. Harry would be mad too.

Scrolling through the Pokédex’s extensive information on snivy and its evolutionary line. Harry got to the information the Pokédex was able to extract about his snivy specifically.

**_Gender: Male_ **

****

**_Ability: Overgrow_ **

Apparently if Salazar was ever close to being defeated, his grass type moves would get a big power up.

**_MOVE SET: Glare*, Tackle, Leer, Vine Whip, and Wrap._ **

Harry chuckled — Salazar certainly knew how to glare — but he noticed a little icon above “Glare” that wasn’t above any of the other moves. He clicked it curiously and discovered that it was an indication that glare was an egg move that Salazar was born with through selective breeding. The Pokédex went on to explain that egg moves, depending on their difficulty level, would have to be mastered by the Pokémon before it could be used effectively.

Clicking on glare, Harry pulled up its description:

**_Glare is a non-damaging normal type move. The user fixes its eyes so sharply on its opponent that it causes paralysis. A fully mastered glare can paralyze multiple Pokémon at once._ **

“Useful,” Harry muttered, rubbing his arm thoughtfully. He had felt tingly when Salazar stared at him extra hard that night. With a little practice, Salazar could master the skill. Not that Harry looked forward to the snake being able to paralyze him with his eyes. Salazar glared at him far too much for that to be convenient.

Scanning Darumaka, who in contrast to Salazar, was curled up between Harry’s knees, radiating warmth even in his sleep.

**_ Darumaka the Zen Charm Pokémon _ **

****

**_When it’s internal flame is burning hotly it cannot calm down and it runs around. It can only sleep when it’s fire has diminished. Darumaka’s dropping are like hot stones and people can put them in their clothes to stay warm._ **

Ew. Harry was never doing that. He didn’t care how cold he got. He skimmed the rest of the info, discovering that Darumaka was also a Unova native. Snivy was too now that Harry thought about it. A neat little coincidence.

**_Gender: Male_ **

****

**_Ability: Hustle_ **

Reading more about ‘Hustle’, Harry was dismayed to discover that while the ability made his darumaka very strong, his accuracy was terrible. Harry wasn’t sure if this was just the way Darumaka was, or if they could train it somehow. It’d be useful if they could turn it on and off.

**_MOVE SET: Endure*, Tackle, Rollout, and Incinerate._ **

Clicking on ‘Endure’ Harry read up on Darumaka’s egg move. Like Glare, it was a non-damaging normal type move. By focusing its energy, Darumaka could survive any attack if only just barely. It would take a lot of practice though, and there were limits to its usefulness. The more times you used it in a battle, the less likely it was to work. The Pokémon also had to be able to focus its energy before the opposing Pokémon attacked. From what Harry read of the commentary on the move, that seemed to be hardest thing to nail down.

Harry would have to start practicing with his Pokémon tomorrow. Closing his Pokédex, Harry grabbed his mother’s journal from the bedside table. He could read at least one or two entries before he fell asleep.

* * *

_ The Journal of Lily Evans VOL. One _

_**DAY SIX** _

_We made it to Viridian! I’m staying in a room at the PKMN Center, thank goodness for those new regulations that make it dirt cheap. I can only stay here for three days though before I have to move on, or find other lodging._

_On the way here I was able to train my new spearow a bit. I’ve decided to name him Leviosa. I think it’s a grand name. He already knows peck, growl, gust, and leer. I’m going to work with him on focus energy. It’ll be so useful in battles._

_He’s much friendlier than Snivy. He sat on my shoulder the whole day, but Snivy just wanted to go back in his pokeball after every battle._

_ Goals for tomorrow: _

_-Teach Leviosa to focus his energy._

_-Restock on supplies._

_-Shop for good deals on TMs_

_**DAY SEVEN** _

_Leviosa has successfully learned Focus Energy. I battled with a few other newbie trainers that are staying at the Pokémon Center and won all the battles accept for the one I used Snivy in. Leviosa was tired, so I sent out Snivy and he beat the other trainer’s rattata easily, but then the other trainer sent out a really strong looking magby. I forfeited right away. No way was I going to risk Snivy getting burned!_

_I just wish Snivy saw it the same way._

_When I tried to touch him afterwards, he smacked my hand away with a vine. I don’t know why though! I saved him from being hurt. Why would he be so cruel? I tried to talk to him, but he just went back in his pokeball again. I hate it when he does that._

_I don’t understand him at all._

_I also found a Roost TM in the bargain bin at the DEPT Store. It’ll be good for Leviosa_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Help me decide on a Harry Potter themed name for Darumaka. No more founder names, they are taken.


	5. Magical Malady

When Harry woke the next morning, Darumaka was curled up against his back, but Salazar was gone from his corner of the bed. Yawning, Harry slid out of bed with all the grace of a slug and left Darumaka to sleep. Once he was in the dim hallway it was easy to see where Salazar had snuck off to by the lamp light falling from the study’s open door.

Entering the cramped room, Harry found Salazar perched on the desk and flipping through a dusty, old book. His big garnet eyes tracked across the pages, and though it was insane, Harry was sure the Pokémon was reading.

“How are you reading?” Harry asked and the snake glanced up briefly, clearly not surprised by Harry’s presence. “And how can I understand you when no one else can?”

Harry had suspended his questions and disbelief at first, because Salazar had seemed like the perfect solution to his problem. At the time Harry was only worried about not getting sacked from the program, but now that it looked like that wouldn’t be happening it was time to get some answers.

“That is curious,” Salazar responded as he flipped a page with his leafy hand. “How can you hear me? Perhaps it was built into the curse? You are her spawn after all.”

“Spawn?” Harry repeated. “What does my mother have to do with this?”

“Everything,” Salazar growled. “She is the one who cursed me to this pitiful existence!”

“Yeah,” Harry said, rubbing the back of his neck anxiously. “I’ve been meaning to ask you about that. You were my mother’s starter and then I find you 25 years later under the floorboards. What happened between you two?”

“I was not your mother’s Pokémon,” Salazar replied stubbornly.

“Your ID numbers match. That means you were her starter,” Harry explained, trying to be sympathetic to the obviously mentally ill Pokémon. It wasn’t Salazar’s fault that he went crazy after being trapped so long in a pokeball. Hagrid had warned him about this. “Maybe you don’t remember after all this time, but—“

“I am not a filthy little Pokémon!” Salazar suddenly snarled, throwing the thick book at Harry, who had to duck fast to not have his head taken off. “I am a wizard of great power beyond your mundane imagination!”

Oh wow, this was worse than Harry thought. The snivy actually thought he was a human, and a wizard at that! He should really consult Prof. Dumbledore about this, but how was he supposed to explain how he knew without sounding crazy himself. Then again, talking to Pokémon sounded a lot less crazy than turning into a Pokémon.

Harry subtly reached for Salazar’s pokeball, but found that it wasn’t there. Damn . . . He’d left his belt on the floor of the bedroom.

“A wizard huh?” Harry said, trying to edge his way toward the door without making it obvious what he was doing. He didn’t seem to be doing a good job, because Salazar was watching him sharply. “If you’re a wizard why don’t you show me some magic?”

“I cannot cast spells in this form,” Salazar hissed, flexing his leafy hands with obvious frustration. “Only a human with the right blood can do it.”

The snivy paused and then seemed to come to a realization. He began muttering to himself as he dragged his eyes up and down Harry in a scrutinizing manner. A manic smile spreading across his scaly face.

“You however,” Salazar hissed gleefully. “Should have no issue, other than your ignorance, but even a slowpoke can swim.”

“Look, I don’t know what—HEY!” Harry yelped as one of Salazar’s vines whipped out and grabbed his wrist. With incredible strength that he couldn’t fight, Harry was yanked forward and his open palm pressed forcibly onto a book that Salazar had left open on the desk. Once his hand covered what Harry could only briefly recognize as some kind of circle design, the page glowed hotly before something extraordinary happened.

Bright green life burst up from between his fingers. Little green sprouts that rapidly turned into vines, flowers, and then branches. By the time Harry yanked his hand away a small gently curving tree stood on his mother’s desk. As he watched, fat blue berries formed from its flowers until round and ripe. Amazed, Harry reached up and plucked one of the miraculous fruits. It was an oran berry.

“How did you—,” Harry sputtered as the grass type plucked another berry to examine.

“I didn’t do anything,” Salazar responded lightly, splitting the berry in two and examining the juicy flesh closely. “Well, hardly anything. I just lent you some of my grass type energy. It’s you who activated the spell. Surprisingly well for an amateur. It’s rare to get an edible berry on the first try.” The snivy popped the dissected berry into his mouth and gave it an experimental chew.

Seeing that the Pokémon didn’t immediately start foaming at the mouth, Harry also ate the magic berry and found it to tasted just like a normal oran berry, and he said as much.

“Overly sweet and yet energizing,” Salazar agreed. “A perfect transfiguration.”

The serpent smirked at Harry, and it was the first time the creature had looked at him with anything other than disgust or annoyance.

“You’re a witch, Harry,” Salazar said smugly.

“I’m a what?” Harry gaped.

* * *

“So,” Harry said once he’d taken a sip of his tea. “You’re telling me that you are a wizard that my mother trapped in the body of her starter Pokémon?”

“Yes,” Salazar replied pleasantly as the serpent sipped delicately at his own cup. Without lips or proper hands, he had to be extra careful not to spill his tea.

“And my mom—needing to hide what she did—put you under the floorboards of her house so that you wouldn’t ever be found?”

“More or less.”

“And you’re definitely not some evil wizard that deserved it?” Harry eyed the serpent suspiciously.

“Potter!” Salazar cried, acting offended. “I am the victim here! If I’d deserved to be punished, why would I be hidden here? Why wouldn’t I be turned over to the league? Your mother and I had ideological differences that we couldn’t reconcile and it led to a fight. She won obviously, but not before sacrificing her own Pokémon’s life to imprison me. Perhaps you should consider that before you begin casting aspersions on my character.”

“So now you’re saying my mother was evil?” Harry said sharply. It couldn’t be possible. Everyone here seemed to think so highly of her. Harry didn’t know much about witches, but weren’t they usually just benevolent spinsters that brewed potions and told fortunes for money?

“Of course not,” Salazar scoffed. “There is no such thing as good and evil. There is only power and those too weak to seek it.”

“That sounds like something that only a villain would say,” Harry said warily.

“If you want to waste your time with morality be my guest, but I have found little use for it,” The snake said sharply. “Whether someone is good or evil is just a matter of perspective. Is a good person still good if they do evil things in the name of their definition goodness?”

Harry wasn’t sure what to say to that. He wasn’t sure of anything anymore. Had his mother really killed her own Pokémon to trap Salazar? She didn’t seem to like her starter—from what Harry could tell from her journal entries—but to sacrifice the snivy in order to perform a curse? That seemed too cruel for any person to do, and Harry didn’t want to imagine his mother as a cruel person.

“How does all of this magic stuff work anyway?” Harry asked. “How did my mother put you inside a Pokémon?”

“If I knew how she did it, I would have found a way to undo it by now,” Salazar said pointedly. “Whatever spell she used required a sacrifice—which would make it black magic. As far as I can tell there is no evidence of the dark arts here. No cursed books and no morally questionable ingredients. I don’t think she even owned a dark type Pokémon. However she achieved that spell, she went to great lengths to remove any evidence of it.”

“Dark magic?” Harry asked feeling even more confused.

“Witches can perform some magic without the aid of Pokémon—what kind of magic depends on the elemental energies that they are naturally oriented to—but a witch’s pokemon greatly enhances their powers. As such, any spell outside of your natural orientation requires a Pokémon of the needed elemental energy to fuel it. Had you touched that berry transfiguration circle on your own—and you weren’t naturally oriented to grass energy—nothing would have happened. It was only through me lending this body’s grass type energy that we were able to create a berry tree from nothing,” Salazar explained.

“So, I need Pokémon to do magic,” Harry said consideringly. “And what Pokémon I keep as partners determine what kind of spells I can use.”

“Yes, other than your natural orientation,” Salazar nodded, seemingly pleased that Harry understood without too much explaining. “Most witches choose to dedicate themselves entirely to their natural element. It is far easier to master their skills that way. A dark oriented witch would most likely only perform black magic.”

“Did you do that?” Asked Harry, downing the last of his tea and standing to clean up.

“Not entirely,” Salazar said, which surprised Harry. He had taken the temperamental little thing for a dark type enthusiast. Salazar had certainly wanted Harry to pick the deino last night. “While I did find myself drawn to the dark arts, I also didn’t feel the need to reject other useful magics.”

“And the dark arts aren’t evil?” Harry asked skeptically as he rinsed out the mugs. “Even though you were cursed to be in a Pokémon’s body?”

“I don’t blame the magic.”

Harry looked over his shoulder and found the snivy staring hard at him.

“Do you blame me?” Harry asked, looking back at the Pokémon—man—that his mother had cursed.

“What?” Salazar tipped his head a little to the side. He seemed confused by Harry’s question.

“My mother is gone, but you still want revenge for what she did right?” Harry asked. “I’m all that’s left of her . . . So do you hate me? Do you want to hurt me as some kind of belated retribution?”

It made perfect sense to Harry that Salazar would hate him. His mother had trapped him in a pokeball for well over a decade. She hadn’t done nearly as much to Aunt Petunia and Harry had been punished his whole life for his mother’s bad relationship with her sister.

Salazar stared at him intensely for a long moment, and Harry tried to imagine this small green snake as a man. He couldn’t picture him without those fierce garnet eyes. Tall or short, fat or thin—no matter how Harry thought the man might look—it was the eyes that stayed the same.

“No,” Salazar finally seemed to decide. “I don’t hate you. Your mother’s actions were her own. It would be petty and short sighted to take out my frustrations on you.”

“That’s good,” Harry smiled as he dried his hands on a tea towel. “It would’ve made this whole partnership thing rather awkward if you wanted me dead!” Harry chuckled in relief.

“Partnership?” Salazar repeated.

“Right,” Harry nodded cheerfully. “You help me figure out this magic and trainer stuff, and I’ll help you get your body back. I don’t know how yet, but you need someone who can perform spells right? I can do that and whatever else I can to break the curse. Deal?”

Harry held out his hand to the grass snake, offering to shake on it. Salazar reacted as if Harry was trying to hand him—well . . . a snake.

“A deal struck with a witch is binding, boy,” Said Salazar recoiling a bit. “If it is broken there will be grave consequences.”

Rather than being deterred, Harry felt even more sure of his decision. He didn’t necessarily distrust Salazar, but he felt better knowing the wizard couldn’t double cross him without some magical consequence.

“Well,” Harry insisted. “It’s a good thing that I’m a man of my word. Nothing to worry about on my end. As long as you hold up your end, there shouldn’t be a problem.” Harry smiled sweetly at the Pokémon.

Salazar looked at him sourly before grudgingly holding out his leafy hand. Harry took the delicate appendage between his fingers and gently shook. He felt . . . Something. Not quite a spark— more of a soft tug on the bones of his fingers. Weird.

“Huh,” Harry huffed as he pulled back his hand and shook the strange sensation out of his fingers. Salazar didn’t seem very bothered, but then again he didn’t have bones in his hand, did he? “So what now teacher?”

Harry couldn’t stifle his amusement—despite Salazar’s censoring glare—he was supposed to be a Pokémon trainer, but he was going to trained by his Pokémon. The irony was too perfect.

“I suppose we should see what that ridiculous creature—that you picked over two dragons—can do,” Salazar grumbled as he jumped down from his chair. “If you want any hope of making it to the conference, we must start training it now.”

* * *

“It’s hopeless!” Salazar groaned into his hands.

“Dobby isn’t that bad,” Harry defended, though he could see where the serpent was coming from.

“Oh, it has a name now?” Salazar snarked. “Was Dopey taken? Perhaps you should name it what it is—ATROCIOUS!”

“He just needs practice!” Harry insisted as Dobby missed his target again—and by several yards—igniting a poor sitrus tree. Harry quickly ran over and smothered the flames with his jacket before they could spread up the trunk.

“Practice won’t help it’s terrible ability! There is a reason trainers don’t bother with darumaka until they evolve. They can’t hit the broadside of a barn from ten paces back!”

“Ok well,” Harry ran a hand through his sweaty hair. It had been a hectic morning putting out all the fires Dobby had set. “What if he doesn’t stand ten paces back? If he can get up close to his opponent it won’t matter if his aim is bad.”

“Excellent idea, Potter,” Salazar snarked from where he sat on a stump. The snivy held himself so loftily that he made the old stump seem like a throne. “Until you face an opponent that is faster, or that can fly, or swim, or dig, or—“

“Alright, you made your point!” Harry shouted, frustrated with his teacher’s poor attitude. “What do you suggest then?”

“I suggest you go to McGonagall and beg her to give you that charmander instead,” said the snivy snootily. “I doubt Snape will give you a second chance at the deino!”

“No way!” Harry retorted, scooping up Dobby when the little Pokémon rolled over to him. Despite missing his target, the darumaka seemed proud of the strength of his incinerate, which was impressive for his age. Not that Salazar would admit it! “Dobby stays, and that’s final! You have to come up with something else.”

Dobby snuggled into Harry’s chest and blew a raspberry at the snivy. The fire type had been very intimidated by Salazar at first, but seemed to gain more confidence when Harry was holding him. Probably because the grass snake was less likely to vine whip him when he was in Harry’s arms. Not that Harry thought Salazar would hesitate to punish the fire type if he felt truly offended—Harry, or no Harry.

Thankfully, Salazar only responded to Dobby’s childish behavior with disdain.

“We’ll have to evolve it as quickly as possible,” Salazar conceded. “Until then, it’ll only be useful against opponents it can close the distance with.”

“Evolve Dobby?” Harry looked down at the furry little baby Pokémon nestled in his arms. “But if he evolves he won’t be so—“ Harry stopped.

“It won’t be so what, Potter?” Salazar hissed venomously.

“Nothing,” Harry winced.

“You were going to say cute.”

“No! I wasn’t,” Harry insisted, feeling his face starting to flush.

“If you don’t stamp out this appalling fetish of yours—“

“Fetish!” Shouted Harry, offended.

“—I swear to Arceus, you will doom us both! Battles are won through power and skill! Magic is cast with power and skill! Sentiment will only hold you back from reaching your full potential!”

“Ok, ok!” Harry shouted. “I’ve got it, alright! We’ll try to evolve Dobby soon, however that happens.”

“Good,” Salazar growled, clearly aggravated with Harry. The short Pokémon hopped down from the stump and paced a little, his leafy hands folded behind his back. What must have been a habit of the wizard, looked strange when acted out by a Pokémon’s body.

“We’ll need to train somewhere hot,” the serpent muttered to himself. “We need a place saturated with fire energy to quicken the process. Cinnabar Island would do nicely, and its only a boat ride away.”

“I don’t think I can afford a boat ticket,” Harry interrupted Salazar’s ramblings. The snivy turned to him and stared unblinkingly.

“What?” Harry said self consciously. “I spent all my money just to get here.”

“You have a sponsorship from the most well-appointed research center in all of Kanto,” Salazar spoke slowly and concisely as if Harry were very dim.

“I, um—,” Harry flushed. Now he agreed with Salazar. He was an idiot. “I thought that just covered the starter and the free Pokédex, and the room and board.”

“No, Potter,” Salazar sighed, rubbing his hand over his eyes as if Harry was giving him a headache. “Not only do you get those things, but you are also paid a stipend to completely fund all of your training costs. You’ll have to ask to find out the exact amount—and how often you’ll receive it—but it will be more than enough to buy a ferry ticket to Cinnabar.”

“Wow that’s—That’s really good,” Harry sighed with heavy relief. “I was worried I’d have to get a second job to buy groceries.”

Salazar opened his mouth to respond, but suddenly Dobby thrashed wildly in Harry’s arms until he dropped the little Pokémon. The darumaka rolled a few yards to right before standing and puffing up as much as he could—almost doubling in size.

“MAKA MAKA!” He shouted aggressively into the undergrowth. Turning to ask Salazar what was happening, Harry saw the snivy also tensed and staring at the same place as Dobby. His vines had come out and were held up,—ready to strike.

A deep menacing growl came from the bushes right before a big dog-like Pokémon stepped out. The first thing Harry noticed was its big yellow fangs—bared menacingly as it growled. It had black fur that was matted and tangled with detritus. Its eyes were a malevolent red and Harry forgot to breath when that gaze locked onto him.

“MAKA!” Dobby howled bravely before he spat an orange fireball, which completely missed the dog by many feet. Instead it hit a tree and set it aflame. The wild Pokémon was not deterred in the slightest and instead tensed up like it was about to pounce until a great slobbering granbull crashed into the clearing and startled the Pokémon into running away. Seeing the Pokémon fleeing, Granbull immediately gave chase—disappearing into the undergrowth with great booming barks.

A large hand grabbed Harry’s shoulder firmly, making him jolt.

“Alright there, Harry?” Hagrid rumbled, glancing between Harry and the direction the Pokémon had ran in.

“Y-Yeah,” Harry said past his dry throat. “What was that?”

“That?” Hagrid repeated nervously. “Nuthin’ Harry, nuthin. Jus’ an abandoned Pokémon. Haven’t been able ta catch ‘em yet. Dead fast that one.”

Harry couldn’t help but think Hagrid was trying to hide something, but what? Before Harry could interrogate him more, Hagrid kept talking.

“Ah, ‘ere comes Fang!” Hagrid said as the big dog came gamboling back into the clearing. It clearly hadn’t been able to catch up to the quicker canine, but Hagrid praised it anyway for trying. He did so with exuberant pats that the granbull happily received.

“So what kind of Pokémon was it?” Harry asked, but Hagrid just waved dismissively.

“Some foreign type,” Hagrid muttered vaguely. “Don’t worry abou’ it.”

“But-“

“Now I ‘ave a gift for ya, Harry,” Hagrid talked over him again as he searched the many pockets of his coat. “Now where did I put it? No not that—Hold this for me. That’s a good chap. This too—“

Hagrid handed Harry a handful of crumbly poketreats and a bundle of dirty rags as he scoured the depths of his pocket for Harry’s present.

“You didn’t have to get me anything,” said Harry shyly, not overly bothered by having to hold the items—though Salazar seemed utterly disgusted. Dobby was too busy playing with Fang to have an opinion. The little Pokémon had curled into a ball and was rolling around while the slobbering dog chased after him.

“Bah!” Hagrid spat. “Missed too many birthdays not to get you somethin’. Here she is!”

“She?”

Hagrid pulled a smudged pokeball from his pocket. Grabbing one of the rags Harry was holding, he wiped away the smudge and traded Harry the pokeball for the stuff he’d been given to hold.

Harry looked down curiously at the brown and white pokeball. He had never seen one quite like it. The top half was brown with dark triangles painted on it. Salazar also seemed curious about the pokeball.

“What kind of pokeball is this?” Harry asked.

“Just a common one, I painted it meself,” Hagrid said proudly. “Dead useful to be able to tell your pokeballs apart. More than one trainer has sent out the wrong monster by mistake.”

Hagrid chuckled at what had to be a funny memory of such an occurrence.

“Only an idiot would make that mistake. I suppose it’s a necessary precaution in your case, Potter,” Salazar hissed pleasantly. Harry sent the serpent a scowl since he couldn’t say anything back with Hagrid in earshot.

“Well go on then,” Hagrid urged as he shoved the rags and biscuits back into his coat. “Open it up!”

Harry felt the pokeball twitch in his hands like the occupant was getting impatient. Extending his arm straight out—like he’d seen pro trainers do— Harry pointed to a bare patch of ground and clicked the release button.

A scarlet beam of light shot out, but instead of landing on the ground, it bounced up and released into the sky.

“Hoot! Hoot!” The Pokémon cried proudly as she flew straight up before corkscrewing and swooping back down to land lightly on Harry’s outstretched arm. Two legs landed on him, but once the Pokémon was stable, one of the legs quickly disappeared into her downy belly. Her eyes were big red orbs with a striking black mask around them—looking almost like an eccentric pair of spectacles. The flying type had comically small wings compared to her sphere-shaped body.

Needless to say it was love at first sight for Harry. So cute.

Salazar was less impressed.

“A hoothoot? How common,” He sneered.

The hoothoot didn’t seem too impressed with Salazar either and was not afraid to retaliate for the insult she’d been dealt. With a growl, the owl dove off of Harry’s arm and started to furiously peck at the grass type.

“How dare you!” Salazar yelled, trying to retaliate with his vines, but no matter how fast he whipped them, the hoothoot dodged his strikes and kept diving in to peck at him. “Do you know who you—Ow! Stop that you damned—OW!”

Feeling like Salazar deserved to be knocked down a peg, Harry laughed as he watched HootHoot mug the snivy until she had him on the run. Salazar was covering his eyes to protect them from the owl’s sharp beak and blindly flinging his vines above his head to keep HootHoot away. With one more laugh, Harry whistled and was pleased to see the owl faithfully return to him.

“I knew yeh would get along with her,” Hagrid beamed. “She’s been waitin’ a long time fer the right trainer.”

“I love her,” Harry said as he stroked her feathers and Hoothoot closed her eyes in bliss. “Thank you so much Hagrid.”

“Don’t mention it,” Hagrid replied, flustered. “I’ll leave ya ta get acquainted, but be sure ta come up ta the castle before dark. McGonagall wants ta talk ta yeh before yeh leave.”

“Leave?” Harry said, startled.

“I know yer all fired up to head out on yer journey, but yeh need ta wait until tomorrow,” Hagrid said sternly. “No rushing off in the dark! Start off in the mornin’ so yeh don’t get lost right off the bat.”

Hagrid whistled to get his granbull’s attention and then left the clearing humming a tune.

“I have to leave tomorrow?” Harry murmured plaintively. Feeling rather tired all of a sudden, he sat down heavily on Salazar’s vacated stump. Hoothoot sent him a stern look for jostling her.

“Were you planning on stay forever?” Salazar sneered, glaring fiercely at Hoothoot and not atHarry for once. “Your sponsorship requires you to travel to get gym badges, Potter.”

“I know. I know,” Harry sighed. “I was just hoping to stay a little longer. I’ve never had a real home before. It’s hard to have to give it up so soon.”

Harry had lived his whole life as an intruder in the Dursley home. Never wanted and certainly never loved. He had hardly a thing to call his own that wasn’t some old broken thing of Dudley’s. Coming to Kanto, he’d suddenly had an abundance of possessions. A house his parents had built, photos he’d never seen before, and a room of books and journals that he could spend his whole life reading.

Harry tried to explain it to Salazar as best he could, half expecting the irritable wizard to sneer like he usually did. Surprisingly, Salazar listened intently to him and even seemed—dare Harry think it—sympathetic.

“We won’t be gone long,” Salazar assured him almost kindly. “We need the research materials here and we cannot carry them with us. After we are finished on Cinnabar, it only makes sense to come back here before traveling further inland.”

“Really?” Harry asked, cheering up a bit. “How long do you think we’ll be gone?”

“I’d normally say two weeks at most to evolve a fire Pokémon on Cinnabar Island, but—,” Salazar looked pointedly at the darumaka who was now valiantly trying to get Harry’s sock off of his foot without first removing the shoe. “—That one will require at least double that if not more.”

“A month, huh?” Harry said thoughtfully, stroking his Hoothoot’s head. “I can do a month.”

Harry and his trio of Pokémon partners left the clearing, unaware of the red eyes tracking their progress from the shadows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How Witches Work in the Pokemon Universe:
> 
> -Ppl know about witches, but most have never met one. (Think Kiki’s Delivery Service)  
> -Witch is the general term for magic users, though witches tend to refer to young males as warlocks and older males as wizards.  
> -Magic is inherently elemental and lines up with the type system.  
> -A witch is naturally oriented to one type, sometimes two.  
> -For example: Voldemort is dark and dragon oriented. He finds fairy magic impossible and fighting/ice magic hard to do.  
> -Skilled witches can cast magic outside their natural orientation with the help of Pokémon and structured rituals/spells/potions.  
> -Grass types help Herbology/Ghost types help necromancy/psychic types help divination/etc.  
> -Witches have to have witch blood. Harry has it from his mother’s side so he had a 50/50 chance of being a witch.

**Author's Note:**

> REVIEWS MAKE ME WRITE FASTER REVIEWS MAKE ME WRITE FASTER REVIEWS MAKE


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